More Than Meets the Eye
by kittenkaboodle
Summary: He was always either hated or feared. She was always either loved or coveted. He was alone. She was not. A demon in the desert. A healer in the leaves. Two opposites. But, there's more to Gaara and Sakura then meets the eye...


**Note: In this story, Sakura and Gaara have never actually met before.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...**

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**More Than Meets the Eye**

**Chapter 1: First Impressions**

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Beautiful…

Beautiful…it was the only word to describe the scene.

Beautiful, was the starry skies that hung over the land of Suna. Day was slowly passing into night, and an array of dazzling colors danced around the sinking sun. In mere minutes, darkness would engulf the desert.

It was the most beautiful sight that Haruno Sakura had ever seen.

The pink-haired konoichi was lying on her back on a rooftop, staring at the sky. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. She wished she could stay there forever. Her mind was at peace, the serene village of Suna was quiet, and the warm desert winds ruffled her hair and embraced her exhausted body.

It was Sakura's first night in the village hidden in the sand, and her last night before her upcoming mission.

She was given three days to travel here, but arrived in two, so she was given the day to rest up. In the morning, she was to be helping watch over the chuunin exams.

Suna had plenty of strong shinobi, but lacked decent medical ninja. Since Konoha was allied with Sand, it sent its best medical ninja, Sakura, to help out for a few weeks.

Guarding the chuunin exams was an easy task, and Sakura's job would most likely consist of bandaging up cuts and scrapes, and putting casts on broken bones. It was nothing life threatening, and was considered a B-rank mission.

Sakura could sleep easy tonight, and with the breathtaking scene that was laid out in front of her, it seems she would do just that…

She opened her eyes again. It was now night, and countless stars shined brightly in the dark sky.

Sakura reached her arm out towards the sky, as if to grab hold of the stars…she wanted to keep this sight in her memory for nights to come…

"Hello?" A deep and emotionless voice asked.

Sakura jumped to her feet quickly and turned around to face the owner of that voice.

He was much closer than expected…Sakura had become face to face with the kazekage…

She took a few swift steps back, "Oh! Gaara-sama (everyone knows who he is), I didn't sense you coming."

The medic nin bowed in respect. Gaara nodded.

"Why are you on my roof?"

_Oh crap._

"I-I…I'm was sent to here on a mission from Konoha. I'm s-supposed to be assisting the chuunin exams tomorrow." She smiled half-heartedly; something about his eyes terrified her, and his cold voice sent shivers down her spine…

Gaara was unmoved. "I know…but why are you on my roof?"

_Damn it…_

"I-I…" Sakura stuttered. _I didn't know this was __**his**__ roof. _She thought. _Shit. What do I say? _"I gotta go…"

And just like that, she was gone in a swirl of leaves…

_Okay…_

If Gaara had any eye brows, he would have raised one.

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_That was embarrassing…_thought Sakura. _Kazekage-sama must have thought I'm such an idiot…some first impression…_

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The Next Day at the Chuunin Exams

Sakura leaned over the railing that overlooked the battle ground where the chuunin exams were to be held. Several Sand shinobi were lined up next to her, conversing with their teammates and buzzing about with excitement for the upcoming fights.

She sighed, she was the only ninja from Konoha.

Then, all of the sudden, everyone went quiet. It seemed that even the birds stopped chirping and the wind stopped moving. Dead silence…as a familiar red-headed shinobi and his siblings entered.

The oldest blonde sibling smiled, "Good Morning."

And with that, everyone continued on as normal. Temari and Kankurou walked away, laughing at something, and Gaara leaned against a wall. He closed his eyes, and stood away from everyone else. Even after all these years, the young kazekage still preferred to come in contact with anyone as little as possible…

…but Sakura didn't know that…

_Gaara-sama's here too…_she thought. _Maybe I should introduce myself…make up for last night…Pshh he probably thinks I'm some kind of stalker for sitting on his roof…well…here goes I guess._

The young konoichi straightened her posture, adjusted her headband, and took a deep breath. She appeared completely confident. Ninjas were good at that sort of thing…

"Good morning Kazekage-sama."

No answer. He just _had _to make things more difficult.

"My name is Haruno Sakura; I'm a medical ninja, I was sent here from the village hidden in leaves." Sakura pretended as if they hadn't encountered each other the night before. She was good at acting.

He crossed his arms. "Gaara," he replied.

_Yeah, I know who you are. Everyone does…_

"I am very glad to be helping your village for the next few weeks."

Gaara gave a simple nod, and just like that, Sakura didn't have anything left to say.

An awkward silence filled the air, as the jade eyes of the medic nin clashed with the teal eyes of the kazekage. They both simply looked at each other, expressionless, as if having an entire conversation without even speaking.

_This woman…_ Gaara thought. _I have a very strange feeling about her… I should keep an eye on her._

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**Well, that's it for the first chapter. I know not much happened, but it will get better. So, review and I'll update. :)**


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